A Night to Remember
by MagicInHerMadness
Summary: AU. Prom night arrives for Sasil.
**A/N: Hi! So this is my first Sasil fanfic. I've written a lot of Olitz fics, and some Richonne one shots and those fandoms led me to Outsiders. This fic is completely AU, set in a high school. I hope y'all like it.**

Blackburg Kentucky, May 2015

Sally Ann bit her crimson bottom lip, looking unsurely at her matching fingernails, splayed on her bare knees, her wrists shrouded in the black ruffles of her dress's cupcake skirt. She got up and went to the living room's full-length mirror to again examine herself. A sliver of cleavage, cleavage she hadn't had before G'win dragged her to Victoria's Secret to buy a "bombshell" bra to go under her dress, peeked out of the dress's gold sequined bodice. She looked down at her waxed legs, marveling at the soft glow coconut oil gave them, and her black pumps, outfitted with ankle straps that made her feel ladylike.

"You can stop looking. If you get any prettier, I'll keep you home," Althea, the elderly woman who had essentially adopted Sally Ann when James's drinking spun out of control, said as she stood in the doorway.

Sally Ann blushed as she turned to face her. "I just… It's prom night. I want it to be perfect."

"Y'all could wind up at McDonald's and Hasil wouldn't mind. You've been leading that boy around by the nose since fall."

Again, Sally Ann blushed. "You know what I mean."

"I know. It's why I didn't give you a curfew. Just this once I want you to do something wild."

Sally Ann smiled at the glimmer in the woman's eyes, wondering what sort of wild things she'd done in her long-gone youth. "We're just gonna go to prom, and then probably Waffle House. Hasil's been talking about waffles for a whole month."

"He's something, isn't he?"

"The question is what," Sally Ann answered with a smile. The doorbell rang and her eyes turned to the door.

Althea smiled as she stepped into the room. "I'll get it. Go fix your lipstick."

Sally Ann hurried into the bathroom and reapplied her lipstick. A moment later she could hear Hasil's voice, soft and lilting like a babbling brook, and Althea's, gravelly from her cigarettes. Both stopped at the sound of her heels on the shining wood floor.

They stared at each other, Althea grinning between them. Sally's Ann's eyes moved over his coppery hair, shining and slicked back into a ball at the crown of his head, and his face, gently shaved with even the sparse hairs around his eyebrows plucked. No one noticed them but her, and she knew what he had done to look his best. Her wild-eyed farm boy had groomed himself into the men she looked too long at in Calvin Klein ads. He wore a crisp black blazer, tailored perfectly for him by the attentive hands of the bleached beyond blonde seamstress at the rental place. His bowtie was the same shade of gold as her bodice, tied crookedly by his eight fingers. Her eyes fell to his bottom half and the corners of her mouth quirked in a smile. Hasil was never one for tradition, and true to his own form, he had forgone the tux's matching pants for his beloved kilt and Doc Martens. Only he could be so mismatched and still so well-dressed.

Hasil misunderstood her lingering stare, his eyebrows falling into creases. "I know I promised to get myself all cleaned up but—"

"You look perfect," Sally Ann interjected, a full smile forming on her face.

She smiled harder at the tinge of pink that tipped his ears and the apples of his cheeks. He shook his head. "Naw. I don't look half as good as you."

Sally Ann blushed, her eyes falling to her shoes as Hasil stepped closer. He lifted her chin, giving her nose an affectionate tweak, before his hands reached their true destination. His fingers threaded through her silken hair, brushing her scalp then falling through to the ends. "Ain't ever seen your hair like this."

"Gramms straightened it." She smiled at Althea over his shoulder, her cheeks hot as he continued running his fingers through her hair. He was fascinated by its natural cottony tufts, but this new bone-straight texture captivated him just the same.

"How'd she do that?"

"With the hot comb." His eyebrows furrowed in confusion. Sally Ann smiled. "It's a metal comb. You heat it on the stove and—It's not important. Do you like it?"

"Ain't nothin' about you I don't like, pop tart," he replied. Sally Ann grinned at her new nickname. She had been introducing Hasil to store bought food—something they never ate on his family's farm on the outside of town—and now she had a new nickname each time he discovered something new he enjoyed. She pressed a kiss to the corner of his mouth, surprised by the supple freshly shaved skin around his mouth.

"I think it's time y'all got going before I see something I shouldn't," Althea interjected.

Sally Ann smiled as Hasil interlaced their fingers, walking toward the door. He turned to smile. "G'night ma'am. I'll have her back soon as I can."

"I know." Althea smiled as she followed them to the door.

They walked outside the house and she went to the front window to watch them, grinning when the boy stopped at the end of the walkway and rushed to his freshly washed ATV then returned, a plastic box in his hand. She could see the bashful smile on his face as he took the red rose corsage out of it. She smiled as Sally Ann helped him pin it to the corner of her dress's sweetheart neckline. Her corsage secure, Hasil offered Sally Ann his hand to help her climb onto the ATV as demurely as she could before he climbed on in front of her. Sally Ann looked at the window and smiled as she waved at Althea. Althea waved back as they pulled away from the curb.

She'd had her misgivings about the quirky when he started walking Sally Ann home, but she'd overheard enough phone conversations, and seen enough painstakingly carved woodland creatures, to know he had nothing but pure affection for her little girl, whom she was beginning to realize wasn't so little anymore.

xXx

"Last picture. Make it special," the photographer instructed as Sally Ann and Hasil stood before the prom's Old Hollywood themed photo backdrop.

"I'm wearin' a kilt. Can't get more special," Hasil replied.

Sally Ann laughed, leaning forward and attempting to cover her mouth. Hasil looked on with a smile, proud of making her laugh, and the photographer smirked as he snapped their picture. He looked at it on his digital camera. "That's a keeper."

Hasil held Sally Ann's hand as he walked over to look. He grinned. "Def'nitely. That there's goin' on the weddin' invitation."

Sally Ann smirked. "You're not wearing a kilt to our wedding."

"We'll see 'bout that, cupcake."

They paid for their pictures then went into the prom. Sally Ann smiled as she looked around at the directions she and the rest of the prom committee had worked on for weeks. She turned to Hasil. "Pretty nice, right?"

"I never thought a gym could look so nice," he replied, looking around at the black and gold decorations. They had lined the walls with black paper generously sprinkled with gold stars. Gold balloons swarmed the ceiling. The refreshment table held mini bottles of sparkling cider and disposable cameras. A row of photo booths lined the back wall. He smiled at her. "You match ev'rything. You're the bell of the ball."

xXx

Hasil smiled as he resumed his place at Sally Ann's side. She turned to looked at him, a bottle of sparkling cider in her hand. "Where'd you go?"

"Had to tell Asa somethin'," he replied, nodding at his cousin, a recent graduate who had graciously taken the prom committee's meager offer to be their DJ. Sally Ann gave him a questioning look but Hasil only smiled sweetly, reaching out to twirl a lock of hair around his finger. "I think I miss your curly hair."

Sally Ann smiled. "It'll be back once I wash my hair."

Hasil nodded, having recently learned the joys of Sally Ann's hair-washing routine when she taught him to twist her locks with a sweet scented paste called shea butter.

xXx

 _Hasil smiled at Sally Ann as she emerged from the bathroom, a towel around her neck to catch the drops of water falling off her damp hair. He scooted over on her bed to make room for her to sit beside him, watching as she gathered supplies from her dresser. She sat beside him, putting her products between them, and he picked up a jar of paste. He smiled at its sugary scent. "What's this?"_

" _Shea butter," she answered as if that would explain anything to him. When he gave no reply, she looked at him with a smile. "I use it to twist my hair."_

 _He nodded, dipping a fingertip into it. "Is this what makes your hair stay in that braid thing?"_

 _She nodded, watching as he rubbed it between his palms then brought them to his face to inhale the scent. "So this is what you smell like all the time…and chocolate too. What's that?"_

 _She left the bed and went to her dresser then returned with a yellow bottle that she placed in his hands. He read the name slowly. "Cocoa butter… You use a lot of butter on yourself, lollipop."_

 _She wrinkled her nose as she massaged shea butter into her hair. "I think that's the first nickname you've ever given me that I don't like."_

" _I just figure it fits cause you're so sweet and I like licking on you…" He smiled, his eyebrows quirking at the way she looked away from her, a smile on her own face. "Plus your head's awful big for your little body."_

" _Shut up! No it isn't!" She laughed as she shoved his shoulder. "It's mostly hair."_

" _If you say so." He watched as she used the paste to twist her hair into little knots all over her head. "Now what does those do?"_

" _They help my hair curl a certain way," she answered, slowing down her method so he could watch. "You just twist and twist until it becomes a ball by itself."_

 _He nodded, reaching over to take a lock in his hair and twist it. "Like this here?"_

 _Sally Ann examined his knot in the mirror. "It's a little small for hair as thick as mine, but yeah."_

 _It didn't take them long to finish her hair and start on his. Althea wasn't sure what to expect when she came home and heard their laughter._

xXx

"Alright kids, here's the last dance of the night. This song is older than just about all of y'all but a friend of mine just had to have it played for his date," Asa announced and Sally Ann wasn't surprised to find him giving them a knowing grin.

She looked at Hasil and he only smiled as Elvis Presley's "Can't Help Falling In Love" began and the gym's lights dimmed. Hasil gave a theatrical bow as he offered his hand and Sally Ann grinned as she took it. He sheepishly took her in his arms and pushed her hair back from her face. "I'm real sorry you didn't get to be queen. I know you wanted it."

She shrugged and smiled. "Nothing in the world can ruin any night I get with you."

Hasil looked away, blushing, and Sally Ann lay her head on his chest, allowing him to sway her to the music. She was surprised at the ease with which he moved, having been dreading his two left feet all week. She lifted her head to look at him. "You can dance?"

He blushed again. "I couldn't 'til 'bout three days ago. I knew you'd wanna dance so I asked Ms. Rae to teach me a li'l somethin'."

Sally Ann looked around the gym and found Ms. Rae, their silver-haired history professor, smiling as she looked at them. She turned back to Hasil and caressed his face. "You are the sweetest thing."

He gave a bashful shrug. "I just wanted to do somethin' special for you. I'd do anythin' to make you smile."

"Can you get Asa to play that song one more time?"

Hasil turned to Asa and gave his cousin a pleading look that he hoped Asa understood. A grin spread over his face when the song began once more, and he turned to Sally Ann, resuming their embrace. "I b'lieve you owe me one smile."

Sally Ann grinned as she wrapped her arms around his neck.

 **A/N: Reviews would be really appreciated! XOXOXO**


End file.
